In 1976 Abdullah Sharif departed Afghanistan first for France and then the United States, leaving behind a viable nation state. Thirty-five years later he returned as a US diplomat. The country he remembered was gone, lost to the ravages of a Russian invasion, the harsh rule of the Taliban, and ongoing clashes between insurgents and US-led forces.
As an Afghan-American, Sharif's thoughts are deeply revealing. "Sardar "presents his insights through nineteen missives written over the course of the first of two civilian deployments with the Departments of State and Defense.
With a...
In 1976 Abdullah Sharif departed Afghanistan first for France and then the United States, leaving behind a viable nation state. Thirty-five years l...
It had been thirty years since Abdullah Sharif moved away from his childhood home in Afghanistan-and upon returning as an American citizen and diplomat, he barely recognized the country he left behind. The once-thriving society and culture was replaced by devastation and unrest. The land, which had experienced its golden age between the 1930s and 1970s, had succumbed to a massive downfall.
It was then that Sharif began the first of two civilian deployments, dedicated to rebuilding peace and prosperity in the country where he had spent his first seventeen years. With a rare front-row...
It had been thirty years since Abdullah Sharif moved away from his childhood home in Afghanistan-and upon returning as an American citizen and dipl...
